This group was there kicking ass at life. They showed up for me and continued the conversation of how we could improve healthIT and advance women who wouldn’t have access to education or connection they need to progress.

Conversations about gender equality & gender equity can often be divisive, but they do not have to be. While preparing for the HIMSS17 Annual Conference I have been thinking a lot about what specifically people can do this week and I have put together a few ideas.

Welcome to Health Tech Reads! Tuesday August 14, 2017 at 9:30 PM EST We are discussing the book The Internet of Healthy Things by Joseph Kvedar, MD.

We wanted to post the questions for discussion.

The opening IoHT scenario paints an optimistic pic of interop & personal prevention. Are we close to realization or too far?

As it relates to IoHT, how do you define "seeing around corners"?

Attributable to "smart tech" the role consumers play in their own health care is changing. How do providers/payers keep up?

W/ Cos like Google, Apple, & Samsung entering the healthcare space, can independents still make a market impact?

The wearable market once projected to reach a value of 50 bl, has faltered. can it be saved/how?

Do the greatest ops for HC disruption & revenue-producing ideas exists for the "not so fit & fabulous"? Where's the greatest need?

Who will the IoHT losers be/why?

How does the patient voice figure into the IoHT?

We got a description of the book from their online website, which also features details about Dr. Kvedar and his work in healthcare:

About the Book

The Internet of Healthy Things not only marks the twentieth anniversary of Partners HealthCare Connected Health, but the invention of a radically new way to deliver healthcare and inspire wellness. Through these past two decades, we have learned, grown, succeeded and failed. We have technologies available that were never even dreamed of just 10 years ago. And, importantly, we have a convergence of market dynamics that make connected health solutions a prime driver in changing healthcare delivery. Connected health is mainstreaming in a rapid way, but as I talk to investors, entrepreneurs and business leaders, they are at a loss for what to do with this exploding opportunity. The space feels chaotic and they worry about healthcare—the complex, long sales cycles, the liability concerns, overregulation and the like. This book takes the lessons we’ve learned over the past 20 years and brings them all into focus, providing guidance on what investments, business strategies and technology considerations are necessary to achieve order (and profit) from the chaos. Having been fortunate enough to enter this field from the ground floor, I’m proud to be among some of the earliest pioneers who helped invent it. Since then, we’ve come a very long way. When I started two decades ago, I often felt like a lone wolf howling in the wilderness. What is remarkable to me is that the vision was so clear then and, despite many setbacks over the ensuing years, my team and I never wavered from the path forward to achieve it. On top of that, the business of healthcare is changing dramatically, with providers taking on risk for population-level care and consumers buying insurance on exchanges and paying a much larger part of their bills. And all of this medical information is available to patients on the Internet. The disease burden is changing, too, as we’ve largely conquered acute illnesses, such as infections, and must now deal with the ever-growing specter of lifestyle-related, chronic silent killers such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and obesity. I may have been a bit ahead of my time when I started, but lucky for me I did not know it and did not let it deter me. Many of you in the field may have had similar experiences as well. In terms of connected health, the world is indeed catching up. There are so many innovations in this vibrant field, I would never be able to cover everything in one book. Rather I have chosen a number of examples of companies doing work that I find innovative and inspiring. The flip side to this cauldron of innovation is enough chaos to make many companies tentative about dipping a toe in the water. This book is also meant to help them find a path. We need all of you to work furiously at the challenge at hand. Healthcare delivery needs to change, becoming more efficient, more patient-centric. As I discuss in The Internet of Healthy Things, this is a multifaceted challenge with many opportunities for success. My wish is that each of you takes something from this book that will enable you to take a risk, but do so with greater confidence.

It is an honor to have Dr. Kvedar involved with our chat.

Our sponsor this week is Mymee -

Glad to join the Health Tech Reads community as a chat sponsor! Please connect with us on twitter here. Mymee identifies patient-specific triggers and reverses the symptoms of chronic autoimmune diseases. The alternative is suppressing them with drugs which are expensive and have side effects like organ failure and death. Through a 12-week teletherapy program our health coaches create behavioral change to remove triggering behaviors and reverse symptoms. This will save the US healthcare system billions of dollars by reducing the incidences of hospitalizations and drug use. Mymee is working to validate the intervention as a cost saving tool so that insurers will be happy to enter into shared savings contracts and provide it to the patients for free. Mymee promotes learning and books for underserved youth and education as a tool for empowering young and adult readers alike.

Geek Girl Rising: Inside the Sisterhood Shaking Up Tech

Heather Cabot and Samantha Walravens wrote a great book about Women in Tech working together for women in tech. Geek Girl Rising is being made into a TV series as well. They highlight some of the history of women who pointed out and did something about gender inequality. We will be answering questions about their book August 8, 2017 at 9:30 PM EST on twitter. Stellicare, a company owned by Melissa McCool, a female founder, is sponsoring the chat, along with the Health Tech Reads team.

Don't have time to read the entire book? Janae Sharp shared some of the first chapter so check it out on twitter and pick up a copy of the book.

Our Partner to help with our mission to get more access to high quality books and promote STEM is Amelia Earhart Elementary in Provo Utah. Check out their teacher projects from Donors Choose here.

Questions for Geek Girl Rising

What was your initial reaction to the book given all of the recent news coming out of SV regarding sexual harassment?

If you could start a business, what would it be? What problem would you like to solve?

How has the definition of “geek” changed over the years, in your view? Has the connotation become more positive?

What advice would you offer your daughters or the next generation of women for succeeding at work (in tech or other industries)?

The "Work Life Warriors" chapter looks at how the workplace is changing to better meet the needs of a new, millennial workforce. What benefits and policies do you think are needed to accommodate younger workers today? Do you see these benefits being implemented?

Which celebrities would you want to see play different roles now that the book is being developed into a TV show?

Welcome to the Health Tech Book Club!

We will be reading books and chatting about them online each week Tuesday at 9:30 PM EST. Our first chat will be August 2nd, 2017 at 9:30 PMWe will read GEEK GIRL RISING please get a copy and join us. Each week we will post questions and chat on twitter with the hashtag #HTReads https://twitter.com/HealthTechReads

This group was there kicking ass at life. They showed up for me and continued the conversation of how we could improve healthIT and advance women who wouldn’t have access to education or connection they need to progress.

Conversations about gender equality & gender equity can often be divisive, but they do not have to be. While preparing for the HIMSS17 Annual Conference I have been thinking a lot about what specifically people can do this week and I have put together a few ideas.